Times have changed, and for actors who ruled the ’90s, keeping up is no longer optional. Even those at the top are sharpening their social media presence. Is the transition easy? Not quite. Kajol, who continues to lead both theatrical and OTT projects, tells mid-day that the pressure feels real when she is compared with the younger generation of actors.

“When it comes to social media and the subsequent scrutiny, I think it’s more pressure for us because we come from a different time. To compare the two would be unfair,” shares Kajol, who commends new-age actors for managing it beautifully.

It was Kajol’s daughter, Nysa Devgan, who nudged her to join Instagram. “I enjoy it up to a point. And there’s only so much that I can and want to do. I think my team has resigned to it. I’ve drawn [my line] very clearly.” She adds that her team understands her boundaries and won’t push her beyond her comfort zone.

Kajol also credits today’s generation of artistes for being able to openly talk about their struggles. “If they cannot manage, they openly go for therapy. Getting help is getting help. Back then, living in joint families, everybody talked to everyone. But we lead very isolated lives now. Who has the time in this day and age to talk? That’s why we need therapy,” she asserts.

Kajol doesn’t worry about box office numbers. After three decades in the industry, the actress says she’s learnt not to dwell on it. “I’ve never taken pressure about the box office because it is not mine to take. I put in my 300% to shoot the film, and 500% to promote it. Box office collections are not in anybody’s control. There is not and never has been a formula for box office success that has been made till today,” she explains.

Her supernatural film Maa touched upon metaphorical demons, and Kajol doesn’t shy away from speaking about her own. Ask her what she grapples with when the cameras are off, and she answers, “Sometimes I am standing opposite my demons, and sometimes we sit down. It depends on my day. They’re not that big anymore, but most of the time, the demon just looks like me. It’s me that I’m fighting the most.”

Pointing to the internal noise that people battle, but rarely address, Kajol elaborates, “My demons are my own insecurities. It’s my overthinking – I imagine 20 different plot lines on one particular topic. We live so much of our lives inside our heads. Everybody has a light and a dark side. My darker side has a lot to say, which may not be the nicest. Then there are also nights when you just can’t get your mind to switch off.”

To quieten the chaos, Kajol turns to familiar tools – chanting, mindfulness, and pen and paper. “I do all the things that work for me. I listen to mantras, I do my job, and I journal. When you sit down, you just keep writing everything as it comes to your mind. Somewhere down the line, your pen slows down, and your mind is emptying out. That helps me sleep at night sometimes,” she shares.

The actress, who has completed 34 years in the film industry, is excited about the career choices she is currently making. She says, “I am super proud of the fact that last year was one of my full years when it comes to working. I don’t think I’ve worked so much in the last 20 years as much as I’ve worked in my 33rd year in the industry.”

Kajol also clears the air around her daughter Nysa’s career plans. “She’s not stepping into acting. She’s 22 years old and she’s pretty much made up her mind that she’s not going to be joining the industry,” the actress confirms.

Kajol acknowledges the heat that comes with being a “nepo baby” in today’s times, but offers her perspective. “When you enter the film industry, you have to realize that there are pros and cons, and you will be subjected to scrutiny. Some of it is harsh, some of it is ridiculous and horrible, but it is all part of your growth and journey. It is something that everyone has to face. It’s not something you have a choice about,” she shares.

Actor Kajol, recently seen in the horror film Maa, opens up about parenting under public scrutiny and how her children, Nysa (22) and Yug (14), have coped with the relentless paparazzi culture. She tells us, “Honestly, they’ve handled it with more grace than I have!” adding, “They still are handling it with a lot more grace than I am, in fact, with a lot more acceptance as well.”

She continues, “We’ve had a lot of conversations over it. Nysa has been hounded [by cameras] since she was 14 or 15, which was not right.”

Sharing how the media attention leads to a different lifestyle, Kajol says, “You need security to go out; you can’t do a lot of things that you probably would’ve been able to do otherwise. But also, now that Nysa’s a little more grown up, it’s something that you have to accept, right? So, we have no choice other than to change our perspective and handle it with a lot of dignity and grace.”

When asked about the parenting values she picked up from her mother, actor Tanuja, Kajol says much of it was absorbed “unconsciously and subconsciously.”

She says the biggest lesson she learnt over time was the importance of discipline. “After rebelling for many years as a child, I finally understood how important discipline is for children,” she shares, comparing it to placing a border around a young tree so it can grow straight and strong.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) remains Indian cinema’s longest-running film. As it turns 30, Kajol sums up the experience: “I worked with my friends and had a blast. I knew we were making a good film because the script was fantastic. We ate good food and travelled around Switzerland — it was like being on one long working holiday. Parts of it were ridiculous, like trying to drape a sari in a cowshed and rolling down a hill by mistake. It was like [we were] running to finish, changing clothes, and before the sunsets, we would sometimes have 15 minutes for the shot. All that madness — I loved every bit of it.”

With 34 years in the industry, Kajol has seen Bollywood evolve. Reflecting on the post-pandemic slump in theatre footfalls, she weighs in on whether content is falling short:

“Content is king right now. People are only coming in to watch things that really make sense to go and watch on the [big] screen. We have upped our standards; we need to do it, and there’s not one person who does not realise that. We are all slowly but surely upping our standards. We realize that we are at an international level, and we have to compete at that level; we’re not competing at a national level anymore.”